In 20 months as a church, it just so happens that we’ve done 20 series of sermons. Some have been short, two-week series. Some have been longer, as long as seven weeks. We’ve covered everything from Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll to a study of Joseph from the Old Testament. All of them have had their own unique qualities.

But none – in my opinion – have been as life-changing as the most recent one we just finished. A series called “I am Unstoppable.”

The point of this series is that every person who calls themselves a follower of Christ has been put on a mission to change the world. And it’s a mission that Jesus promised would be unstoppable. It’s one that simply won’t fail. The main weapon he chose to use is the power of a story, a story of changed lives thanks to a Savior who paid a price we could never pay for ourselves. 11 guys were left on Earth with this story and the results 2,000 years later are nothing short of amazing. Now we play a part in writing the rest of that story.

Some of the highlights of this series over the past five weeks have been:

- More than 30 people gave their lives to Jesus! They now have an incredible story to tell. They are now unstoppable!
- More people than ever are getting plugged in to the local church. Dozens of new volunteers are in line to start making a difference at OneLife and nearly 20 new people just completed the Partnership process.
- Life-change isn’t just happening on Sundays. Literally every week we heard stories of people who were in conversations throughout the week that led to them giving up control of their life to Jesus.
- This series gave us the opportunity to study several different miracles and teachings of Jesus. I had more fun than ever studying for these sermons each week and learning all that Jesus has to teach us through His Word in so many ways.
- More than ever, this series reached men. Women seem to love everything we do. To be honest, they are the “easy” demographic to reach. Reaching men, on the other hand, is HARD! But one Sunday alone I had three grown men come to me and tell me of what Jesus is doing in their lives.
- We kicked off our online giving system called “Automate the Important,” and many new families signed up to make a difference with their generosity! Check it out here: www.onelifeknox.com/give
- For number crunchers out there, this was our highest attended series, too. Attendance is up nearly 40% from this time last year.
- OneLife is beginning to reach far beyond Powell and Knoxville. This past Sunday a young couple who had been watching our services online for several months in Atlanta drove up to Knoxville just to visit a service in person, then turned around and drove back to Atlanta. Oh yeah, the wife of this couple gave her heart to Jesus on Sunday, too!
- Speaking of online services, we average nearly 100 views of the service each week online. That blows my mind.
- This series spawned an idea to leverage summer to make a huge difference in our community. An Unstoppable Summer kicks off in June and WILL be INCREDIBLE! Stay tuned for more details…

OneLifers, I’ve never been more pumped up about our church and we’ve never had this much momentum. Let’s ride it through the summer and look forward to a huge fall! The best is yet to come!

After being out for two weeks celebrating the birth of my beautiful, one-of-a-kind, cutest baby you’ve ever seen, cuddly daughter, it was SOOOO good to be back at OneLife! Here’s the quick run down.

• We kicked off a new series called “Really?” It’s dealing with all the crazy things we ALL believe but need to say “Really?” next time we think or say them!
• This first week was the lie that we should all just follow our heart.
• There’s a HUGE problem with that as outlined in Jeremiah 17:9: our hearts are deceitful and sick!
• Jesus said that all sin comes from our heart – not Satan – but our heart.
• The only hope is to have our heart of stone ripped out and replaced with a new heart…all thanks to Jesus.
• Then we can follow HIS heart and not OUR heart! BIGGGG difference!
• Watch it online here and get the follow-up discussion questions.
• Our creative process paid off big time. It was a very focused, easy to remember kind of day.
• The band played Paramore’s “That’s What You Get” which set the sermon up great. The main gist of the song for those of you not into Pop-Punk is “Pain – That’s what you get when you let your heart win…” A great message!
• I was so proud of our OneLifers. Fall Break was over, it was the kick-off to a new series, and we challenged everyone to invite people who aren’t plugged in to a church to come with them. The result was a record day!
• 314 people attended, including 193 in the first service. Both new records for a “normal” Sunday…aka it wasn’t Easter or our 1-year anniversary.
• Why is that a big deal? Because we got some GREAT feedback from many of these people who desperately needed to hear that they can follow HIS heart instead of theirs! Lives were changed!
• So we want more and more people to have their lives changed, too.
• Next Sunday is going to be another fun one. We’re talking about the lie of “Everything Happens for a Reason.”
• Yep, that’s right. Next time you hear that you should say, “Really?”
• Come find out this Sunday why that is indeed an untruth!
• And don’t come alone…share your story of what God is doing in your life with someone this week and bring them with you!

Well the last two weeks have been two incredible weeks! Last Sunday (October 10) started with my wife laying in bed breathing heavily. “I think I’m having contractions,” she said. So I started timing. They were close but not terribly close and this was our first rodeo with having a baby. So what did it mean?

She got in the shower then I did, too. We were going to head on in to church and just see what happened. Then as she walked to the linen closet wearing her bathrobe I’ll never forget what happened. She stopped dead in her tracks.

“I think my water broke.”

And sure enough, there below her was the evidence! I was so excited I went into the kitchen and did the silent fist pump while jumping up and down. She called the doc and to the hospital we went. After cleaning up the evidence…

Oh yeah, what about church. The Friday before all of this, my wife was having some serious contractions – 5 minutes apart. We went to the hospital and they would have kept her but didn’t have a bed! (comforting thought) So they sent her home with Vicadin and said come back when they hurt more. Again, comforting thought. So we went ahead and enacted the sermon back up plan then. And while my trooper of a wife laid in psuedo-pain for two days, our creative director Tyler edited down a Perry Noble sermon that fit perfectly with our series.

Here’s the cool thing. While we were in the hospital welcoming our new life to this earth, three people were being re-born spiritually at OneLife! Yep, video sermons do work. People loved it and people were saved. What a great day!

Back at the hospital, the labor continued. And finally at 8:52 p.m. the prettiest baby ever was born. Mariclaire Isabelle Arnold.

We got to come home a couple of days later and my staff guys and our church family took great care of us. I took the week off and loved every second of not thinking about work or church and focusing solely on my family! The next Sunday (October 17) I got to simply attend church while Hunter Wright – a future ministry partner and church planter to Knoxville – preached the Word for us. It was great.

So now I’m back in the saddle. We’re starting a new series at OneLife and I can’t wait. Check it out here: www.onelifeknox.com/series and I’ll see YOU on Sunday!

What if there is more to heaven than pearly gates and streets of gold? What if there’s more to it than not going to hell? What if there’s more to it than getting a big mansion?

There is.

That’s what we addressed this weekend at OneLife. Heaven is the place where God finally has the relationship with his people that he always longed for. Revelation 21:1-4 teaches us that and several things. One of my favorites is that our greatest fears will be gone (“…there was no sea.”). One thing I thought about since then is the fact that Scripture teaches where there is fear, love cannot abide. So naturally, fear cannot exist in God’s presence.

I also learned something else unique this week. We don’t always know when someone’s life is being changed by the Gospel. Maybe they don’t raise their hand during the invitation. Maybe they don’t fill out a card. Maybe they just give their hearts to Jesus. We saw that yesterday because we ran out of new believer gift bags at our welcome table!!! But yet no one marked their card and dropped it in the buckets as they left. Maybe – just maybe – Jesus really can change lives outside of our systems and procedures

This coming Sunday wraps up our “To Be Continued” series with a snapshot view of Revelation. We won’t just answer the question of “What will happen at the end of the world?” but we’ll be answering the questions of how that helps us to live life NOW in a way that will impact eternity.

If you have someone who needs Christ…share your faith stories with them THIS WEEK! And then invite them to come worship with you at OneLife. God is doing some amazing things! Don’t miss it.

• “To Be Continued” jumped into week two full force talking about hell.
• We discovered that hell exists to deal righteously with Satan and unbelievers.
• However…God desires that NO ONE should perish! 2 Peter 3:9
• Because of that, our lives should reflect the reality that hell is real and people will go there without Jesus!
• But instead, most of us have misconceptions about hell.
• Like the song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Which our band BLEW OUT OF THE WATER!
• Worship leader Zane Ellis played the part of Charlie Daniels and we stumbled on a fiddle player who was INCREDIBLE.
• All of our closet rednecks at OneLife LOVED it.
• Speaking of Worship Leaders, our boy Dillan Howell did an amazing job teaching a new song and leading some great worship.
• Momentum at OneLife is at an all-time high. One indicator of that is stories of life change.
• Kydon Bowen, our volunteer coordinator, got a first-time volunteer survey back that showed exactly why we value volunteerism.
• It was a story of a girl who gave church a try. Smiling greeters made her first day memorable at OneLife. Now she wants to be a smiling greeter to help more people find Jesus! AWESOME!
• Another indicator is good-ole fashioned attendance. Average attendance in September jumped by nearly 50 people a week (not counting the One Year Celebration spike). THAT IS NOT NORMAL ONELIFE!!!
• God is up to something HUGE and we are just along for the ride.
• Share your faith story! Invite someone to church this week! Because remember…hell is real and God desires for no one to go there!
• Let’s do our part to keep the people of Powell and Greater-Knoxville out of hell.
• And let’s see them bust the gates of heaven wide open. We’ll be talking about heaven this Sunday.
• DON’T MISS IT!!!